My father has been diagnosed with lung cancer. I have never been through this before and don't know how to support him

My father has just been diagnosed with lung cancer. I have a 2-year-old son, and my father has been like a father to him. I also live with my father and two younger sisters. We lost our mother 8 years ago and to receive this news is utterly devastating. I'm scared I'm going to lose my dad. It hurts and I feel so alone. I've never had to go through something like this before. I've never had a family member go through cancer before, and it terrifies me because I don't know what to expect. I don't know how long he has left to live, how to support him and my sisters through this, how to manage anything. It hurts! He's our rock and the glue to this family. He is all we have. I don't know what to do, say, how to act. We are close, but he isn't in touch with his feelings; he doesn't like to talk about how he feels and keeps everything bottled up, so that makes it harder because I can't speak to him about this, and he's probably scared too. 

  • Hi Micky32, 

    I just wanted to offer you a very warm welcome to the community and let you know how sorry I am to hear about your father.

    Finding out someone you love has cancer can be incredibly difficult and bring about so many thoughts and emotions, but our members are here for you Micky, and hopefully it won't be long until some of them stop by to offer their support and share their experiences and advice.

    I hope you'll find this information we have for family, friends and carers to be useful, but if you feel it may help to talk things through with one of our cancer nurses, they're available on 0808 800 4040, Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m. They're very insightful and will do all they can to help you at this very scary and challenging time.

    Do keep posting if you find it helps Micky, and remember that we will be with you on every step of this journey.

    Kind regards,

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator